Cerebellar mutant mice and chimeras revisited

Perspect Dev Neurobiol. 1997;5(1):43-55.

Abstract

Neurological mutant mice have yielded an early and continuously rich resource for studying the role of genes in the developing cerebellum. Experimentally produced chimeric mice, containing mixtures of genetically normal and mutant cells, provided a means of deducing the primary site of gene action and studying cell interactions in these mutant cerebella. Recently, three mutant genes, reeler, weaver, and staggerer, have been cloned and their gene products identified. These three genes have been examined earlier by the chimera technology. Here, we review the chimera studies in the light of what we now know to be the products of these mutant genes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cerebellum / embryology*
  • Cerebellum / growth & development
  • Chimera*
  • Embryonic and Fetal Development / physiology
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / physiology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Neurologic Mutants
  • Species Specificity